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Provost

New Users:Please read: As a new user you will be able to post but there are some limitations. Depending on your behavior and participation level you will soon become a fully registered user. Please hang in there and understand that this is needed to keep out spammers.

New Users Please Read This (and Others Will Benefit as Well)

Knowledge of these guidelines will help us all to get the most out of the forums. Please take the time to read them.

Most of you are abiding by them wonderfully and make the CWR forums a great place.

CWR Discussion Forums - Usage Guidelines and Purpose
These forums will be monitored subject to the following guidelines:

1. All posts should relate to the Civil War era, Civil War reenacting, Civil War reenacting events, and conduct of the hobby.
Please post your messages in the appropriate forum. See the main index page for a list of the forums and their purposes. Some additional clarifying comments follow these guidelines.

Unrelated subjects may be removed (or moved to the appropriate forum) at any time.

3. Inappropriate comments with regard to race, religion, political agendas or disparagement of any social group is not the purpose of this forum. Such comments will be removed on sight.

4. Threads which become flame wars may be closed or removed entirely.

5. Threads which become overly large, redundant, or cluttered with small talk may be closed, archived or removed entirely, at the Provost's discretion.

6. Threads which have become less active over time will move to the back pages of the forum as newer and more active topics are created. (This isn't as much of an issue as it used to be but I left it in on the off chance someone didn't know how the software often works.)

7. Archiving of a thread does not imply endorsement of it's content.
Those who flagrantly or persistently violate these guidelines may suffer suspension or banishment.

Provost's Mission: My goal is to preserve the forums for the purpose Bob Szabo started them: a place for reenactors to share information, provide help, respectfully debate reenacting issues and get to know one another better.

This is a precious resource and we need your help to make it work. If there is a post you believe is inappropriate for this forum, please make (restrained) use of the "alert" button to notify the Provost or another moderator. That will help us spot problems more quickly.

If we agree with your concern, we will remedy the problem as soon as practical. If we leave the message up more than one business day, it usually means we did not feel it required removal. Due to limitations of time, we don't often answer these alerts with an email but we are very grateful for them.

PLEASE REMEMBER: Any given moderator here is simply one person with one opinion which may simply differ from yours. Please respect that decision.

If you have a strong disagreement with any decision, email the Provost specifically (see address below) and I will reply privately. It helps if you include a link to the thread in question. I do not debate on the forum. For years I have done my absolute best to be fair and reasonable and will continue to do so.

Our working metaphor is that we're discussing things around Bob Szabo’s dinner table. Please keep in mind that women and children may be present at that discussion. Remarks not consistent with respect for that situation may be removed without warning.

Let's continue to keep this forum at a high level. Thanks for your support. The Provost
cwr.provost (at) yahoo.com

Let me begin by expressing my appreciation for the 99% of members who operate within the forum guidelines of "respectful but vigorous debate" more than 99% of the time. You make it all worthwhile.

It is my sincere hope that no one will ever "earn" one of these infractions, but we all have our down days. The system outlined below allows for that without being overbearing, I believe.

However, we know that some folks just don't like the guidelines and want to do things their way. Therefore, to give an incentive to operate within them, I've done two things.

First was to "turn on" the infraction tool for moderators here. This allows them to flag a post as inappropriate and, in turn, the member gets a brief written explanation of what as wrong and what might be improved.

Second, based in large part on the feedback received from forum participants, we’ve increased the consequences for accumulating too many of these infractions. Below is a list of said infractions, some explanation of them, the number of points they render and the length of time they last.

Like points on your driving record, they can add up over time, but also have a "sunset" where they drop off your total after a certain time. That time here is two weeks, for now.

Say a member called someone else a name, thereby belittling them. It gets flagged by a moderator. They have ten points on their account for the next 14 days. If they don't repeat the problem, the total drops to zero after 14 days. All is well.

But if they then pick a fight with someone, and get flagged, their total jumps to 20 and they have earned a three day suspension to cool off. If it's all in one day, it will be 14 days before their point total drops below 20, another three days before they're allowed back on.

Repeated problems of the same type have an added bad consequence, the sunset is extended. For instance, if someone made two posts where they called someone names, on the same day, and both got flagged, they have earned 10 points for 28 days, not just 14 days. Two more like that in close succession and they've given themselves a rather long "time out." It'll be almost two months before their point total drops below 20 and they're allowed back on again.

To be clear:

As long as there are 20 points on your record it will be three days before you get back in.

As long as there are 25 points on your record it will be a minimum of two weeks and possibly permanent suspension.

So, forthwith, the list of infractions:

Insulted Other Member(s).. 5pts -- Expires after 14 Days
Insults can take manifold forms, but the moderators are all folks whose judgment I have come to trust. Remember the Golden Rule, the real one, and you'll be fine.

Inappropriate Language.. 5pts -- Expires after 14 Days
Things that would have gotten a kid's mouth washed out with soap in "our era." It was also not acceptable around the dinner table. It does not matter if the software filter puts those little asterisks in there or you try to do it yourself to evade the filter. Let's aim a little higher.

Name calling.. 10pts -- Expires after 14 Days
Doesn't contribute anything substantive to a debate and usually is seen as a tactic of someone who has run out of ideas but wants to silence the other side. Don't go there.

Deliberately trying to pick a fight.. 15pts -- Expires after 14 Days
This would be a serious problem and put someone on notice that they're way over the line, but the moderator thinks there's hope they can control themselves.

Serious breach of forum guidelines -
about to be banned... 25pts -- Never expires
Someone needs to be excluded from the forum immediately, perhaps permanently, subject to the Provost's review.

Spammed Advertisements.. 25pts -- Never expires
Allows the moderators to close off the access of a spambot. Not intended for use against humans.

You can look at your infractions on your user profile under the "User" CP tab at the top of your forum list.

I hope this note lays out the boundaries clearly but concisely. It is a work in progress and may be updated, changed or adjusted as time goes by and needs arise.

Provost Aide de Camp

»Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." >Mark Twain

You are not required to sign your name to posts here. You will find that people are more interested in speaking with you if you do.

If the email address you originally used to sign up is no longer useful to you and you want to change it, please notify the Provost by email at this address: cwr.provost (at) yahoo.com

We upgraded software on June 1, 2011. If you used to be a member here but have not logged in for several months, your username may be missing. Try it and see. If it does not work, then you'll need to sign up again. Our new software system will approve you for membership quickly.

You have one hour from the time you post your message to amend your remarks. Otherwise it'll have to be in a new message.

A long time moderator here, Sgt. Pepper, now retired, had this to say about a common forum issue:

Q: My spelling, grammar, syntax and semantic and typographic skills make people wonder if I've been drinking heavily or perhaps suffered a head injury. They complain and make fun of me. What should I do?

A: If you have the skills and wits to read and understand high school-level English, get a copy of The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White. It is small, easy to use and has everything you need to write clearly. If you aren't capable of understanding the concepts in this excellent book, there's not much anyone can do for you except make sure you're fed regularly, learn how to use the toilet, have clean, warm clothing to wear and brush your teeth every day.

The question, and the answer remains relevant today.

Provost Aide de Camp

»Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." >Mark Twain

In the Military Conference: The General Discussion Forum and the Clothing, Equipment and How To Forum have distinctly different roles. Gear and "how to" threads belong in the later, most anything else that is military related belongs in the former.

The Classified Ads Forum is for the buy/sell/trade of used equipment, not for commercial use nor for new equipment sales. Discussions about the relative merits of items by those not involved in the sale belong on the Clothing and Equipment forum. New Users may not sell items in this area, or any area of the forum while they are Junior Members.

Sutler Row is only for commercial use and/or new equipment sales. Both civilian and military items are advertised here.

In the Civilian Conference:

General Discussion of Civilian Topics covers all topics of a civilian nature.

The Classified Ads for Civilian Items Forum is for the buy/sell/trade of used equipment, not for commercial use nor for new equipment sales. Discussions about the relative merits of items by those not involved in the sale belong on the Civilian Forum.

Branches of Service:
There are two specialized subforums for Musicians and Medical.

In the Other Business Conference:

Battlefield Preservation is for discussions of efforts to preserve our battlefields

Flags & Statues is for efforts related to preservation of these memorials and heritage preservation issues. This is not the area for discussion of modern politics.

Books, Films, and Videos are for discussions of media related to the Civil War era.

The Whine Cellar began primarily as a place for threads removed from other forums that offered only complaints without proposals of constructive solutions.
Other forum guidelines regarding respect for others are in effect here, but we do give more latitude about subject matter, at the discretion of the moderators.

We currently do not offer a forum for the discussion of modern politics which are unrelated to our hobby or heritage.

Thank you for your participation with us in making this a useful place to share information and debate the issues that concern us all.

Last edited by Spinster; 02-16-2012 at 12:46 AM.

Provost Aide de Camp

»Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." >Mark Twain